Sponge-cup



(No Model.)

R. HITOI-IGOGKI- & H. '1). WAIT-E. SPONGE c111 No. 490,653. Patented Jan 31, 1893.

t M M T Unrrsn STATES PATE T OFFICE.

ROBERT HITOHCOGK AND HAMILTON D. WAITE OF WATERTOWN, NEW YORK.

SPONGE-CUP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 490,653, dated January 31, 1893. Application filed June 11, 1892- $eria1No. 436,299- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that We, ROBERT HITCHOOOK and HAMILTON D. WAITE, of Watertown, in the county of Jefferson and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sponge-Cups, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification.

The present invention relates more particularly to the construction of sponge-cups or holders, adapted for bankers use, although it is applicable to many other purposes. Devices of this kind usually consist of a cup or vessel so constructed as to prevent overflow when the sponge is pressed to moisten the fingers, and to contain a surplus of water, and means for holding the sponge in place. A common form of sponge-holder has a saucer like portion, exterior to the cup, in which the sponge is placed, and communicating therewith by openings through the side of the cup near its bottom.

According to the present invention the sponge is held in place bya screw, or a screwthreaded or pointed pin, attached to the bottom of the cup, and adapted to pass entirely through the sponge, or to enter the same sufficiently to hold it in place. In the former case, we prefer to cover the pointed end of the screw with a cap or button, which serves both to hold the sponge in place, and also to protect the fingers of the user from the pointed end of the pin. The holding pin or screw may be either secured (permanently or detachably) to the bottom of the cup, or it may be secured to a disk or plate of lead or other metal which we prefer to rest upon the bottom of the cup to prevent the latter from tilting, or it may have a head or washer on its lower end and pass through a hole in the center of the said plate or disk.

Another feature of the invention consists in the use of a cup havingavertically extending wall around the bottom thereof, above which is an outwardly bulged portion, which terminates in a flaring mouth. The vertical portion of the wall at the bottom of the cup serves to receive the weight, above referred to, and also to hold the sponge more firmly in position. The bulged portion prevents the contraction of the upper part of the sponge, serves as a receptacle for surplus water, and

gives freedom for the fingers in compressing the sponge, while the flaring mouth catches drippings from the fingers, and prevents the easy overflow of the water in the cup.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, Figure I, isavertical central section, Figs. II, III and IV are similar views of modified forms, Fig. V, is a plan view of another modified form, and Fig. VI, is a section on line VI-VI of Fig. V.

In the drawings A represents the cup, the wall of which is formed with a vertical portion at, around the bottom of the cup, above which is an outward bulge a, and above that a flaring mouth a 13 is the pointed holding screw or pin for the sponge, secured to the inner face of the bottom, at about the middle thereof, and passing up through the sponge B. The upper end 17 of this pin B is screw-threaded and en- 'gages in the interiorly screw-threaded socket c of a knob or button 0, which serves both to clamp the sponge in place and to cover the sharp point of pin B, thus protecting from injury the fingers of persons using the cup.

D is a plate or weight, preferably of lead, which rests on the bottom of the cup; the pin B passing through an opening therein. This prevents the cup from beingeasily tipped over, and if desired the pin B, instead of being secured to the bottom of the cup A, may be secured to the plate D, (as shown in Fig. III) to more readily facilitate the removal of the sponge.

In Fig. IV, we have shown the securing pin or screw in the form of a cork-screw or spirally coiled wire, passing partly through the sponge.

Another form of the invention is shown in Figs. V, and VI. It consists in arranging a series of pins B around the bottom of the cup and secured thereto, said pins lying in a plane substantially parallel with the plane of the bottom of the cup, and having offsets Z) which give space enough between the pins and bottom of the cup, to receive a portion of the sponge, sufficient to hold the same in position. The pins have upwardly bent sharpened ends, and all point in the same direction relative to the circumference of the cup, so that by pressing the sponge against the bottom of the ICC cup and turning the same the pins will pass into the sponge and hold the same securely in place.

\Vhat we claim is:

1. Asanew article of manufacture a spongeholder, comprising a cup provided with a pointed securing screw or pin projecting from the bottom of the cup and adapted to penetrate and hold the sponge, substantially as described.

2. In a sponge-holder the combination with a cup having an upwardly and outwardly projecting rim around the mouth thereof, of a pointed screw or pin for securing the sponge, adapted to penetrate the same said screw or pin being attached to the bottom of the cup, substantially as described.

3. As an article of manufacture a sponge cup formed with a vertical wall around the bottom thereof, extending into an outwardly bulged portion, and terminating in a flaring mouth and provided with means for holding the sponge in place, against the bottom of the cup, the lower portion of the sponge being contracted within the said vertical portion of the wall as set forth.

4. The combination with the sponge-cup, of a pointed screw-threaded securing pin passing from the bottom of the cup upwardly through the sponge, and an internally screw threaded knob or button engaging the upper end of the securing pin, substantially as described.

5. The combination with the sponge-cup and devices for holding the sponge in place, of a weight in the form of a disk or plate adapted to rest on the bottom of the cup, substantially as described.

6. A sponge-holder comprising a cup, a re movable plate adapted to rest on the bottom of the cup, and a pin having a head or button, the sponge being held between the plate and the said head or button, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof We have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT I-IITOI-ICOOK. HAMILTON D. WAIlE. WVitnesses:

HORACE H. WARNER, .13 0. N. NOBLE. 

